Robotics

A reprogrammable multifunctional manipulator designed to move material, parts, tools or specialized devices through various programmed motions for the performance of a variety of Tasks. --- Robot Institute of America. 

Robotics - Study and application of robot technology. Robot - Mechanical device that performs human tasks, either automatically or by remote control. Telerobotics - Robot that is operated remotely.

Laws of Robotics Isaac Asimov proposed three “Laws of Robotics ” and later added the “zeroth law ”

Law 0 : A robot may not injure humanity or through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm Law 1 : A robot may not injure a human being or through inaction, allow a human being to come

to harm, unless this would violate a higher order law Law 2 : A robot must obey orders given to it by human beings, except where such orders would

conflict with a higher order law Law 3 : A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with a

higher order law

History of Robotics In 1942 the science fiction writer Isaac Asimov created his Three Laws of Robotics. In 1948 Norbert Wiener formulated the principles of cybernetics, the basis of practical robotics. Fully autonomous robots only appeared in the second half of the 20th century. The first digitally

operated and programmable robot, the Unimate, was installed in 1961 to lift hot pieces of metal from a die casting machine and stack them. Commercial and industrial robots are widespread today and used to perform jobs more cheaply, or more accurately and reliably, than humans. They are also employed in jobs which are too dirty, dangerous, or dull to be suitable for humans. Robots are widely used in manufacturing, assembly, packing and packaging, transport, earth and space exploration, surgery, weaponry, laboratory research, safety, and the mass production of consumer and industrial goods.

Date Significance Robot Name Inventor

Third century B.C. and earlier

One of the earliest descriptions of automata appears in the Lie Zi text, on a much earlier encounter between King Mu of Zhou (1023–957 BC) and a mechanical engineer known as Yan Shi, an 'artificer'. The latter allegedly presented the king with a life-size, human-shaped figure of his mechanical handiwork.

Yan Shi 

First century A.D. and earlier

Descriptions of more than 100 machines and automata, including a fire engine, a wind organ, a coin-operated machine, and a steam-powered engine, in Pneumatica and Automata by Heron of Alexandria

Ctesibius,Philo of Byzantium, Heron of Alexandria, and others

c. 420 B.C.E A wooden, steam propelled bird, which was able to fly

Archytas of Tarentum

1206 Created early humanoid automata, programmable automaton band

Robot band, hand-washing automaton,[9]automated moving peacocks[10]

Al-Jazari

1495 Designs for a humanoid robot Mechanical knight Leonardo da Vinci1738 Mechanical duck that was able to eat, flap its

wings, and excreteDigesting Duck Jacques de

Vaucanson1898 Nikola Tesla demonstrates first radio-

controlled vessel.Teleautomaton Nikola Tesla

1921 First fictional automatons called "robots" appear in the play R.U.R.

Rossum's Universal Robots

Karel Čapek

1930s Humanoid robot exhibited at the 1939 and 1940 World's Fairs

Elektro Westinghouse Electric Corporation

1946 First general-purpose digital computer Whirlwind Multiple people1948 Simple robots exhibiting biological behaviors Elsie and Elmer William Grey

Walter1956 First commercial robot, from the Unimation

company founded by George Devol and Joseph Engelberger, based on Devol's patents

Unimate George Devol

1961 First installed industrial robot. Unimate George Devol1973 First industrial robot with six

electromechanically driven axesFamulus KUKA Robot

Group1974 The world’s first microcomputer controlled

electric industrial robot, IRB 6 from ASEA, was delivered to a small mechanical engineering company in southern Sweden. The design of this robot had been patented already 1972.

IRB 6 ABB Robot Group

1975 Programmable universal manipulation arm, a Unimation product

PUMA Victor Scheinman

2009 The first collaborative lightweight robotic arms were distributed

UR5 Universal Robots

Rossum’s Universal Robots The term "robot" was first used in1920 in a play called "R.U.R." Or" Rossum’s Universal Robots"

by the Czech writer Karel Capek. The word “Robot” comes from the word “Robota”, meaning, in Czech”, forced labor, drudgery.

R.U.R = Rossum's Universal Robots

The First Robot

After the technology explosion during World War II, in 1956, George C. Devol, Norman Schafler and Joseph F. Engelberger and made a serious and commercial effort to produce a robot.

They started a firm named Unimation and succeeded in building the 1st robot named Unimate. Joseph F. Engelberger is known as the 'Father of Robotics'

The Unimate

It was first used in General Motors It basically to extract die-castings from die casting machines and to perform spot welding on auto

bodies, both tasks being particularly hateful jobs for people. A variety of other tasks were also performed by robots, such as loading and unloading machine tools. The Unimate started a revolution in the robotics industry and many robots of its type were built for

doing tiresome jobs for people. Robots offer specific benefits to workers and industries. If introduced correctly, industrial robots can

improve the quality of life by freeing workers from dirty, boring, dangerous and heavy labor.

Robotic Aspects There are many types of robots; they are used in many different environments and for many different

uses, although being very diverse in application and form they all share three basic similarities when it comes to their construction:1. Robots all have some kind of mechanical construction, a frame, form or shape designed to achieve a

particular task. For example, a robot designed to travel across heavy dirt or mud, might use caterpillar tracks.

2. Robots have electrical components which power and control the machinery. For example, the robot with caterpillar tracks would need some kind of power to move the tracker treads.

3. All robots contain some level of computer programming code. A program is how a robot decides when or how to do something. In the caterpillar track example, a robot that needs to move across a muddy road may have the correct mechanical construction, and receive the correct amount of power from its battery, but would not go anywhere without a program telling it to move. 

Types of Robots

Mobile Robots

Mobile robots are able to move; usually they perform tasks such as searching. They are of two types:

1. Rolling robots - have wheels to move around. They can quickly and easily search. However they are only useful in flat areas.

2. Walking robots - robots on legs are usually brought in when the terrain is rocky. Most robots have at least 4 legs; usually they have 6 or more.

Industrial Robots

Most of these robots perform repeating tasks without ever moving. Most robots are working in industries. Especially dull and repeating tasks are suitable for robots. A robot never grows tire; it will perform its duty day and night without ever complaining.

Autonomous Robots

Autonomous robots are self-supporting. They run a program that gives them the opportunity to decide on the action to perform depending on

their surroundings. At times, these robots even learn new behavior. They start out with a short routine and adapt this routine

to be more successful at the task they perform. The most successful routine will be repeated.

Remote-controlled Robots In case a robot needs to perform more complicated yet undetermined tasks an autonomous robot is not

the right choice. Complicated tasks are still best performed by human beings with real brainpower.  A person can guide a

robot by remote control.  A person can perform difficult and usually dangerous tasks without being at the spot where the tasks are performed. 

Dante 2, a NASA robot designed to explore volcanoes via remote control.

Virtual Robots Virtual robots don’t exist in real life.  Virtual robots are just programs, building blocks of software

inside a computer. A virtual robot can simulate a real robot or just perform a repeating task. Search engines use such kind of robots. They search the World Wide Web and send the information to

the search engines. 

Educational Robots Robotic kits are used extensively in education.

Ex. Robolab, Lego and RoboCup Soccer

Domestic Robots Two types: Those designed to perform household tasks and modern toys which are programmed to do

things like talking, walking and dancing, etc.

Robot Components Power Source - Though perhaps other power sources can be used, the main sources of electrical power

for robots are batteries and photovoltaic cells.1. Photo Voltaic Cells – or solar cells are well known for their use as power sources for satelites,

environmentalist green energy campaigns and pocket calculators.2. Batteries – are an essential component of the majority of robot designs.3. Fuel Cells – are a possible future replacement for chemical cells (batteries). They generate

electricity by recombining hydrogen gas and oxygen.4. Mechanical – Another way to store energy in a robot is mechanical means. Best known method is

the wind-up spring, commonly used in toys, radios or clocks.5. Air Pressure6. Chemical Fuel

Actuation - Actuation devices are the components of the robot that make it move (excluding your feet). Best known actuators are electric motors, servos and stepper motors and also pneumatic or hydraulic cylinders. 

1. Motors – Device that converts electrical or other energy into mechanical energy or imparts motion. A.C. motor – powered from alternating current (AC) D.C. motor – powered from direct current (D.C.) Servo motor – a rotary actuator that allows for precise control of angular position, velocity

and acceleration. Stepper motor - an electromechanical device which converts electrical pulses into discrete

mechanical movements.2. Shape Memory Alloys - an alloy that "remembers" its original shape and that when deformed

returns to its pre-deformed shape when heated.3. Air muscle - It is a linear actuator, producing motion along a straight line and opening a whole new

range of design possibilities.4. Linear Electromagnetic - consist of a hollow coil (solenoid) and a ferrometal rod. The rod is

mounted loose in the coil and can move up and down. When current flows through the coil, the rod is pulled to the center of the coil. If the direction of the current is then reversed the solenoid will pull in the ferrometal rod.

5. Piezoelectric Actuators - actuators that take advantage of the piezoelectric effect found in certain materials.

6. Pneumatics/Hydraulics - actuators which provide linear movement. Hydraulic systems, especially, can produce extremely high forces.

7. Miniature internal combustion engines - These are the small internal combustion engines used in model cars and planes.

Gripper - a component of the robot used to manipulate an object loose from the robot itself. This can be a ball it needs to pick up, or the dirty socks it was programmed to find and dispose of.1. Scoops – very simple 'grippers'. These can be flat, flat with raised edges or more complicated

shapes. These 'grippers' are easily to control as they can be build with minimal moving parts: being able to move up and down is sufficient for many purposes.

2. Tongs – are more complicated than scoops but allow better control over what is picked up. Tongs differ in the number of fingers and their shape. Most tongs have 2 fingers, one of those could be fixed.

3. Hands4. Degrees of Freedom – Grippers also differ in their degree of freedom. Basically there are 6 degrees

of freedom: 3 translations and 3 rotations.

Audio - parts that allow it to make sounds, either for entertainment purposes or to convey information. This can be done through simple sound chips: cheap integrated circuits which allow certain sounds to be played with very few external components. These are commonly used in toys.1. Preamplifier – This can be done through simple sound chips: cheap integrated circuits which allow

certain sounds to be played with very few external components. These are commonly used in toys.2. Amplifier – allow a low power signal to be outputed through a speaker with significant power.3. Analog to Digital Converter ADC – converts an analog signal to a digital value.4. Digital to Analog Converter – converts a digital value into a voltage level.5. Oscillators – generates a repetitive signal

Video - components split up in 2 categories. On one hand you have a video camera, some form of transmission (wire or radio) and a display. On the other hand you have computer vision.1. Camera, transmission, displays – There are very small cameras, some even with built in wireless

connection, which are cheap and need hardly any external components. These cameras can be mounted on a robot and let the user see through the robots "eyes". If the robot has an on-board computer (single board or laptop) a webcam can be used. This allows robot control over a network or even the internet.

2. Computer Vision – a relatively new area. It tries to provide a computer with eyes and the ability to "understand" what it sees. The first step is easy. Webcams have been around for quite some time. However the second step, understanding the image, is the hard one. Image processing plays a substantial part in robotics where computer vision is used. There are many aspects to image processing including: demosaicing, image registration, differencing, recognition and segmentation.

3. Demosaicing – an algorithm that takes the image after being processed by a color filter array (CFA), such as a Bayer filters, and reconstructs a full color image.

4. Image Registration – the process used to combine multiple images into a single coordinate system.5. Image Differencing – used to obtain the changes between two images and is done by comparing the

images pixel by pixel.6. Image Recognition – is the method of acquiring, analyzing, and understanding images to produce

numerical information.7. Image Segmentation – used to simplify other aspects of image processing. This includes breaking

an image down into smaller pieces making object detection and edge detection easier.

Computer Control Control Architectures

1. Reactive Systems2. Sense-Plan-Act3. Brooks’ Subsumption Architecture4. Hybrid Systems5. Swarm Robotics

The Interface1. Personal Computers2. Single Board Computers and multichip modules3. Microcontrollers4. Remote Control5. Networks

Sensors Sensors that a robot uses generally fall into three different categories:

1. Environment sensors tell the robot what is happening around it Thermal Sensors Pressure Sensors Ranging Sensors Touch Sensors

2. Feedback sensors tell the robot what it is actually doing3. Communication sensors allow a human or computer to provide a robot other information.

Navigation Navigation comprises everything a robot needs to get from point A to point B as efficient as possible

without bumping into furniture, walls or people.1. Localization2. Collision Avoidance3. Exploration4. Mapping5. Trajectory Planning

Advantages & Disadvantages

Advantages Used to do repetitive (boring) actions or jobs Perform a variety of tasks Improve in quality Increase in production Perform dangerous tasks that humans can't do Robots do not get sick, they can work 24/7 without complaining

Disadvantages Expense No guarantee Expertise: training on to use robots takes time Safety

Trivia Where are most robots found?

= CAR FACTORIES. More than 50% of all robots are found in car factories

This robot is designed to help with heart surgery. Guess what its name?=da Vinci

References

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roboticshttp://www.slideshare.net/sivabenten1/ssr-16116198http://www.slideshare.net/sivabenten1/ssr-16116198http://www.slideshare.net/parthmullick/introduction-to-roboticshttps://www.robots.com/education/robot-part-typeshttp://www.slideshare.net/aroobkazim/robots-presentation-11197492https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Roboticshttp://ditto.us.com/what-is-image-recognition/http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/motor.htmlhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AC_motorhttp://www.ohioelectricmotors.com/what-is-the-difference-between-an-ac-motor-and-a-dc-motor-673https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shape-memory_alloy